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'CONNECTICUT 


42 


AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION 


NEV/     HAVEN,    CONN. 


BULLETIN   149,   JUNE,   1905. 


A*  New  and  Valuable  Cover-Crop  for 
Tobacco   Fields. 


A  RUSSIAN  VETCH  PLANT. 
Seed    sowed    at    Hockanum,    Conn.,    in    October,    1904.      Photographed 

April  22,  1905. 


The  Bulletins  of  this  Station  are  mailed  free  to  citizens  of  Connec- 
ticut who  apply  for  them,  and  to  others  as  far  as  the  limited  editions 
permit. 


CONKECTICnT  AfiRICDLTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION, 


BOARD    OF    CONTROL. 
His  ExcelleiKry,  Henry  Roberts,,  Ex  officio,  President. 

Prof.  W.  O.  Atwater  Middletown. 

Prof.  W.  H.  Brewer^  Secretary  New  Haven. 

B.  W.  Collins  Meriden. 

T.  S.  Gold West  Cornwall. 

Edwin  Hoyt   New  Canaan. 

J.  H.  Webb   Hamden. 

E.  H.  JenkinSj  Director  and  Treasurer New  Haven. 


STATION    STAFF. 

Chemists. 

Analytical  Laboratory. 

A.  L.  WiNTON^  Ph.D.,  Chemist  in  charge. 

E.  Monroe  Bailey,  Ph.B.  I.  A.  Andrew,  Ph.B. 

Kate  G.  Barber,  B.S. 

Laboratory  for  the  Study  of  Proteids. 
T.  B.  Osborne,  Ph.D.,  Chemist  in  charge.  I.  F.  Harris,  M.S. 

Botanist. 
G.  P.  Clinton,  S.D. 

Entomologist. 
W.  E.  Britton,  Ph.D. 

Assistant  to  the  Entomologist. 
B.  H.  Walden,  B.Agr. 

Forester. 
Austin  F.  Hawes,  M.F. 

Grass  Gardener. 
James  B.  Olcott,  South  Manchester. 

Stenographers  and  Clerks. 

Miss  V.  E.  Cole. 
Miss  L.  M.  Brautlecht. 

In  charge  of  Buildings  and  Grounds. 
William  Veitch. 

Laboratory  Helper. 
Hugo  Lange. 

Sampling  Agent. 
V.  L.  Churchill,  New  Haven. 


A  New  and  Valuable  Cover-Crop  for 
Tobacco  Fields. 

By  a.  D.  Shamel, 

Of  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry,  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  in 
cooperation  with  the  Connecticut  Agricultural  Station,  New  Haven. 

A  suitable  cover-crop  which  can  be  sowed  immediately  after 
the  tobacco  crop  has  been  harvested,  so  as  to  protect  the  soil 
from  washing  or  loss  of  fertility  in  other  ways,  is  of  special 
importance  to  tobacco  growers.  After  tobacco  has  been  har- 
vested, in  August  or  thereabouts  in  New  England,  there  is  a 
considerable  loss  of  plant  food  from  the  soil — lying  bare  for 
nearly  nine  months — by  leaching  and  drifting  of  the  surface 
soil,  and  the  heavy  fall  and  spring  rains  on  sloping  land  may 
badly  wash  and  gully  the  fields. 

Rye  is  frequently  used  as  a  cover  crop,  but  is  not  wholly 
desirable.  It  will,  to  be  sure,  gather  up  and  hold  the  soluble 
plant  food  in  the  soil  where  it  grows,  but  adds  nothing  to  what 
was  already  there.  On  some  lands  it  winter-kills  badly,  and  on 
others,  if  allowed  to  get  too  high  in  the  spring,  it  dries  out  the 
soil  too  much.  Moreover,  it  does  not  decay  quickly  when 
turned  under,  particularly  if  it  makes  a  large  growth  in  the 
spring,  but  impairs  the  capillary  action  of  the  soil,  leaving  it 
too  dry  and  loose  for  the  young  tobacco  plants,  and  yielding 
up  its  plant  food  to  them  too  slowly. 

Many  kinds  of  clover  and  other  legumes  have  been  tried, 
without  much  success.  In  some  cases  these  crops  have  been 
winter-killed  after  a  good  stand  was  secured,  while  in  most 
instances  it  has  been  impossible,  in  this  region,  to  get  a  good 
stand  in  the  fall.  Not  only  is  this  true,  but,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  most  of  these  crops  require  two  seasons  to  reach  their  full 
development,  they  would  seem  unsuited  to  our  needs.  Our 
recent  experiments  indicate,  however,  that  the  Russian  vetch  is 
admirably  adapted  for  a  cover-crop  for  tobacco  fields. 


4  CONNECTICUT    EXPERIMENT    STATION,    BULLETIN    I49. 

Description  of  the  Hairy  or  Russian  Vetch. 

Hairy  vetch,  sand  vetch,  or  Russian  vetch  ( Vicia  villosa) ,  as 
it  is  variously  known,  is  an  annual  leguminous  plant,  introduced 
from  Europe  about  1847,  ^^^  ^c>t  grown  extensively  in  this 
country  until  a  few  years  ago.  It  has  a  peculiar  habit  of 
growth,  and  when  sowed  alone  the  plants  spread  put  on  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  covering  it  completely  with  a  dense 
matted  growth.  The  appearance  and  habit  of  the  young  plant 
is  shown  on  the  first  page  of  this  Bulletin. 

It  is  a  "nitrogen-gathering  crop."  When  the  soil,  either  nat- 
urally or  after  inoculation,  contains  the  bacteria  adapted  to  this 
plant,  these  organisms  fasten  themselves  to  the  fibrous  roots, 
usually  in  small  nodules  or  tubercles,  plainly  visible  when  the 
roots  are  carefully  taken  up  and  the  soil  gently  worked  from 
them.  These  organisms  have  the  faculty  of  taking  free  nitrogen 
from  the  air  and  fixing  it  in  combination.  The  plants  on  which 
these  microbes  grow  can  then  appropriate  this  combined 
nitrogen  for  their  own  growth.  This  "assimilation  of  free 
nitrogen"  takes  place  most  actively  in  poor  soils,  which  are 
deficient  in  combined  nitrogen,  and  the  growth  of  a  leguminous 
crop  on  such  poor  soils  enriches  them. 

This  makes  the  vetch  of  special  value.  Our  tobacco  soils  are 
relatively  very  poor  in  nitrogen,  the  most  costly  element  of 
plant  food,  for  which  we  pay  sixteen  cents  or  more  per  pound 
in  fertilizers.  The  tobacco  crop  is  wholly  unable  to  gather  the 
free  nitrogen  which  forms  four-fifths  of  the  atmosphere  about 
it,  but  vetches  and  other  legumes  are  able  to  gather  more  or 
less  of  it  and  enrich  the  soil  and  the  following  crop  with  it. 

Russian  vetch,  according  to  the  analysis  of  Conden,  reported 
by  F.  Lamson-Scribner  (Circular  No.  2  of  the  Division  of  Agros- 
tology of  the  Department  of  Agriculture),  contains  in  every  100 
parts  of  dry  matter,  22.78  per  cent,  of  nitrogenous  matter  or 
protein, — equivalent  to  3.64  per  cent,  of  nitrogen, — 2.61  to  3 
per  cent,  of  fats,  23.25  per  cent,  of  cellulose  or  crude  fiber,  and 
39  per  cent,  of  nitrogen-free  extract.  Every  ton  of  dry  hay 
contains  45  pounds  of  nitrogen,  19  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid 
and  62  pounds  of  potash.  The  yield  amounts  to  6  to  10,  and 
sometimes,  on  very  rich  soil,  to  12  to  15  tons,  of  green  forage 
per  acre.  The  yield  of  dry  hay,  taken  on  this  basis,  would  be 
from  i>^  to  4  tons  per  acre,  the  yield  depending  on  the  fer- 


EXPERIMENTS    WITH    RUSSIAN    VETCH.  5 

tility  of  the  soil.  The  fertilizer  elements  gathered  by  the  vetch 
are  in  the  best  form  for  use  by  the  succeeding  crop,  and  a  crop 
of  vetch  plowed  under  by  the  first  of  May  might,  under  favor- 
able conditions,  release  in  the  ground  plant  food  that  would 
cost  from  $i6  to  $40  per  acre  if  purchased  in  the  form  of 
commercial  fertilizers.  In  addition  to  this  fact,  the  vetch  has 
a  high  nutritive  ratio  and  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  forage 
crops  known. 

Russian  vetch  requires  moisture  during  the  first  few  weeks  of 
growth,  but  after  it  becomes  established  .is  one  of  the  best 
drought-resistant  forage  plants  grown.  The  plant  withstands 
cold,  heat,  and  drought,  but  does  not  do  well  where  water  stands 
in  the  soil  or  covers  the  land.  It  has  very  fine,  small  roots, 
which  penetrate  the  soil  in  every  direction,  and  when  the  plants 
are  turned  under  they  rapidly  decay  and  give  up  their  plant  food 
to  the  succeeding  crop. 

Experiments  zuith  Rttssian  Vetch. 

In  October  of  1904,  a  month  later  than  was  desirable,  several 
fields  in  this  state  on  which  the  tobacco  had  been  harvested  were 
sowed  to  Russian  vetch.  In  some  cases  the  fields  were  plowed, 
and  the  vetch  sowed  with  the  usual  rye  seeding,  while  in  others 
the  vetch  was  sowed  alone.  In  some  instances  the  vetch  was 
sowed  on  plowed  ground  and  harrowed  in  with  a  common 
smoothing  harrow ;  while  in  others  it  was  sowed  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  immediately  after  the  tobacco  plants  had 
been  harvested,  and  disked  in  with  an  ordinary  disk  or  wheel 
harrow.  In  some  parts  of  the  fields  inoculated  seed  was  used, 
and  in  others  seed  that  had  not  been  inoculated. 

The  results  of  these  experiments  have  been  of  so  much 
promise  and  importance,  and  are  of  such  general  interest  to 
tobacco  growers,  that  they  are  presented  at  this  time  in  the  hope 
that  many  growers  may  be  sufficiently  interested  to  try  a  small 
patch  for  themselves  this  season. 

Because  of  the  small  amount  of  seed  available,  the  seeding 
was  usually  thinner  than  was  desirable.  The  facts  of  impor- 
tance are,  however,  that  a  good  catch  was  obtained,  the  plants 
grew  thriftily  in  the  fall,  and  bore  the  very  severe  winter 
equally  well  and  apparently  much  better  than  rye  sowed  at  the 
same  tim.e.     For  when  sowed  together,  the  vetch  survived  and 


6  CONNECTICUT    EXPERIMENT    STATION,    BULLETIN    I49. 

grew  well  this  spring  in  spots  where  rye  completely  winter- 
killed. In  one  portion  of  a  field  which  was  covered  with  ice 
for  several  weeks  the  vetch  survived. 

The  roots  of  plants  from  inoculated  seed  bore  many  tubercles, 
some  aggregations  of  them  being  as  large  as  corn  kernels. 
When  the  seed  was  not  inoculated  the  roots  bore  few,  if  any, 
nodules  and  the  growth  of  the  plants  was  much  less  vigorous. 

When  plowed  under  in  May,  the  plants  were  from  four  to 
eight  inches  high  and,  where  the  seeding  was  sufficient,  com- 
pletely covered  the  .ground. 

Directions  for  Planting  Russian  Vetch. 

Owing  to  the  large  size  of  the  seed,  about  the  size  of  a  small 
pea,  a  stand  is  easily  secured  in  the  fall,  and  when  sowed  at 
this  time  the  plants  will  cover  the  ground  before  cold  weather. 
The  best  way  of  seeding  is  probably  to  plow  the  land  and  broad- 
cast, harrowing  in  the  seed  with  a  light  smoothing  harrow.  If 
it  is  to  be  sowed  with  the  greatest  possible  economy  of  seed,  it 
should  be  planted  in  drills  2  to  4  feet  apart  and  cultivated 
several  times  until  the  plants  cover  the  ground.  The  seed 
should  be  sowed  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  tobacco  is  cut,  and 
at  the  rate  of  about  i^  bushels  of  seed  per  acre  broadcast. 
When  sowed  in  drills,  probably  from  ^  to  i  bushel  per  acre 
will  suffice.  The  best  time  for  sowing  is  probably  between 
August  I  and  September  15. 

When  planted  on  land  which  has  not  borne  this  crop  before, 
the  seed  should  be  inoculated  before  sowing,  according  to  the 
directions  given  by  Moore  and  Robinson  in  Farmers'  Bulletin 
No.  214  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  or  the  soil 
may  be  inoculated  by  sowing  on  it,  with  the  seed,  surface  soil 
from  a  field  where  this  vetch  has  been  recently  and  success- 
fully grown. 

The  seed  may  be  bought  of  reliable  seed  houses,  but  is  at 
present  very  expensive,  costing  about  $6.00  to  $6.50  per  bushel 
of  60  pounds. 

It  is  reported  from  the  far  West,  where  the  Russian  vetch 
has  been  grown,  that  when  planted  about  the  middle  of  April 
on  poor  land  it  will  mature  seed  in  the  same  season  and  improve 
the  land  at  the  same  time.  We  are  this  year  trying  to  get  a 
seed  crop  from  land  sowed  in  the  spring  in  Connecticut,  and 


DIRECTIONS    FOR    SOWING   RUSSIAN    VETCH.  7 

shall  be  able  to  report  on  the  matter  next  fall.  If  successful, 
the  vetch  may  be,  for  a  time,  a  valuable  cash  crop  on  lands 
which  are  naturally  infertile. 

Russian  Vetch  for  Forage. 

As  the  plant  does  not  stand  clear  of  the  ground,  but  is 
recumbent  in  its  habit,  it  cannot  profitably  be  mowed  and  cured 
for  hay. 

It  is  said  to  make  excellent  pasture.  Cattle  should  not  be 
turned  on  it  till  it  is  in  full  bloom,  and  they  should  not  eat  much 
of  it  at  a  time  until  accustomed  to  it. 

The  Vetch  for  Green  Manuring  Other  Crops. 

There  are  large  areas  of  land  in  the  Connecticut  valley, 
hardly  farming  land  at  present,  on  which  sweet  corn,  Indian 
corn  or  other  crops  might  profitably  be  grown  if  some  way  can 
be  found  to  bring  the  soil  into  proper  condition  for  the  growth 
of  these  crops  without  any  great  expense.  It  is  probable  that 
by  growing  a  legume  like  vetch,  and  either  plowing  it  under 
or  pasturing  it  off  in  the  fields,  these  lands  might  be  brought 
into  condition  for  growing  other  crops  successfully. 

Inasmuch  as  the  Russian  vetch  is  a  northern  crop,  naturally 
adapted  to  conditions  like  those  in  the  Connecticut  valley,  there 
is  reason  to  urge  farmers  to  experiment  with  this  crop  on  such 
farms.  It  will  take  some  time  to  find  the  best  and  most 
economical  means  of  growing  and  utilizing  the  crop,  and  any 
one  rule  or  method  will  hardly  apply  to  all  the  variety  of  soils 
and  other  conditions  found  on  different  farms. 

We  recommend  to  tobacco  growers  the  careful  sowing-,  this  summer, 
of  from  a  quarter  of  an  acre  to  an  acre  of  Russian  vetch,  as  soon  as 
the  tobacco  crop  is  harvested,  at  the  rate  of  one  and  a  half  bushels  per 
acre.  The  seed  should  be  got  of  a  reliable  seedsman  and  inoculated 
before  sowing. 

If  this  experimental  crop  proves  to  be  a  success,  the  culture  of  it 
can  safely  be  extended  next  year. 


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